All vocational degrees and credentials offered by Colorado
community colleges lead to significant increases in quarterly
earnings. Even short-term certificates, requiring less than
one year of full-time attendance, increase earnings by over
$400 per quarter (a 24% increase from pre-welfare earnings).
Across specifications, the estimated impacts of short-term
certificate receipt are quite similar, suggesting that women
who earn these credentials are not positively selected relative
to other welfare recipients in terms of their pre-college
earnings profiles. Longer term certificates result in larger
earnings gains, although the magnitude decreases when individual
fixed effects and linear trends are included. In my
preferred specification, which includes individual fixed effects
and linear trends, certificate recipients experience a
$700 (42%) increase in quarterly earnings. The estimated impact
of AAS degree receipt increases in magnitude when individual
fixed effects and trends are included, suggesting that
AAS degree recipients had worse earnings trajectories prior
to college attendance relative to women who did not attend college, on average. In my preferred specification, women
who earn AAS degrees experience the largest earnings gains,
equal to $2,200 per quarter (a 133% increase). Receipt of
AA/AGS degrees only leads to small, marginally significant
increases in quarterly earnings. Bachelor’s degree recipients
see similar earnings gains, but the number of such individuals
in my sample is quite small, so estimates relating to
the outcomes of four-year college graduates should be interpreted
with caution